On the Prowl

by Matt Lincoln

  Waiting just outside the entrance was a man with curly blond hair wearing a police uniform who seemed to perk up when he caught sight of me. Assuming he was here to pick me up, I walked toward him, suddenly noting that he was alone.

  “Hello, are you Agent Castillo?” he asked. His accent was heavy but not unattractively so. I was a little wary. Nelson had told me I would be meeting a team of police officers when I got to Greece, so I wasn’t expecting to see a single uniformed officer instead. I didn’t sense anything in his mannerisms or body language that implied malice or threat, though, so I wasn’t too worried.

  “That’s me,” I said as I came to a stop in front of him. “Are you the specialized team of police officers that are going to help me infiltrate the ferry?” I asked teasingly. His face seemed to fall for a second, and he seemed almost embarrassed.

  “Actually, yes,” he said, smiling apologetically, and I couldn’t contain the shocked look that came over my face. “I’m so sorry. There’s been a change in plan. You see, the ferries did not want such a large police presence on the boats. They worried it might scare the passengers, so-”

  “Wait,” I interrupted, “You mean the ferry staff members have been made aware of the mission? That entirely eliminates whatever element of surprise we had! If the smugglers become aware of what we’re planning, they could abort their plans, or worse, they could pull some stunt like Galanis did with the ferry in Athens!”

  I felt incensed, and I wasn’t shy about making it known. How could the police drop the ball this badly? Worse still, how could the proprietors of the ferry be more concerned about the passengers being upset than they were about criminals potentially using their boats as accessories in a crime? It was beyond stupid.

  “I’m very sorry,” the man said again, and I reeled my anger in. I knew it wasn’t his fault, so it wasn’t fair of me to unleash my fury on him. He was just the poor sucker who got sent to deal with his superior’s massive screw-up. I hoisted my bag off of my shoulder and dropped it unceremoniously onto the ground in front of me.

  “Nah, it’s not your fault,” I said, pulling my phone out of my pocket. “I do have to call my boss, though, and let him know what’s going on. This is really gonna mess up our plans.” I leaned against the side of the police vehicle as I scrolled through my contact list until I found Nelson. He picked up on the second ring.

  “Hey Nelson, bad news,” I said, glancing over to the man who was looking more uncomfortable with every passing moment. “The local authorities have decided that instead of a team of police officers, they’ll only be providing me with one single officer as backup for the mission.”

  “What do you mean?” Nelson’s voice came through the phone, sounding more alarmed than I’d ever heard it.

  “Just what I said,” I replied. “Apparently, the ferry operators don’t want to alarm the passengers by having a bunch of police storm the ferries. I’m assuming this means Junior is going to end up getting shafted too.” I could hear Nelson sigh in frustration on the other end of the call.

  “I’ll have to make some calls and have a serious talk,” Nelson said. “We were very clear that this mission needed to be kept as secret as possible in order to not alert the smugglers. Somebody has really messed up. Unfortunately, though, it’s probably too late to fix this now, especially considering the word’s already leaked to the staff onboard the ferries. Do you know who all was told about the mission?”

  “Hey, handsome,” I called over to the man, who looked up at me with a startled expression. I couldn’t tell if he was more surprised by the way I’d suddenly called out to him or by how I’d addressed him. “Do you know how many people were told that we were coming?”

  “My supervisor said that only the captains and their closest crew members were told directly, and they were asked not to divulge the information to anyone else,” he replied.

  “Hey Nelson, apparently only the captains and high-ranking staff were told about the mission,” I said back into the phone. “They should have kept it a secret, but in my experience, it’s impossible for something to stay a secret once more than one person knows.”

  “I’d have to agree,” Nelson said. “Which only further confirms that it’s too late to try to change the plan. The longer we wait to act, the higher the chance that the smuggler will catch wise to our plans. As much as I hate to put this pressure on you, I’m going to have to ask you to continue the mission with a single partner as opposed to a team as originally planned.”

  “Hey, don’t sweat it, Nelson. It’s nothing I can’t handle,” I said. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous, but I’d been in dangerous situations before completely alone. One partner was better than nothing.

  “I’m glad to hear that, Agent Castillo,” Nelson said. “I’ll update Director Wallace, and then I’m probably going to go rip someone a new one.”

  “You go get ‘em, Nelson,” I said before ending the call. I turned back to the police officer, who looked as if he wanted to disappear.

  “Alright, it’s all squared away,” I said, hefting my bag up off the ground and slinging it over my shoulder once again. “Sorry about that little freak-out earlier. I tend to get loud when I’m annoyed. But my boss gave me the go-ahead to continue the mission as your partner, so it’s all good.”

  “Oh, good,” the man said, looking relieved that I was no longer directing my anger toward him. “I’m Augustine, by the way.” He offered his hand, and I shook it firmly.

  “What a name, I like it,” I said. “You can call me Miranda, then. Well, Augustine, do you think you could give me a ride to my hotel? I’d like to have a shower and change before we get started with the mission.”

  “Of course,” he said, smiling at me charmingly. The edges of his eyes crinkled when he did, and I couldn’t help but notice what a clear, pale blue his irises were.

  I opened the passenger side door and climbed in, setting my bag over my lap. Augustine entered a moment later and started the car, draping an arm over the back of my seat as he turned to look behind him so he could reverse the car. His cologne smelled like pine, and I had to shake myself mentally at the thought. I was here to uncover an international animal smuggling organization, not to flirt with the local police. Still, if I had to be relegated to a single partner, I supposed having it be a tall, good-looking man was the best possible scenario.

  A few minutes into the drive, my phone chimed, and I pulled it out of my pocket again. The screen lit up and indicated I had a message from a number that I didn’t recognize, and I tapped the message icon open to see what it was. It turned out to be from Junior, who wanted to warn me about the sudden change in plan and to wish me luck on my portion of the mission.

  I snorted to myself as I put my phone away again. So, I was right when I’d assumed that Junior would get stuck with a single partner as opposed to a team, as well. I smiled as I thought of Junior finding out about the sudden change and wanting to warn me personally, not to mention taking the time to wish me good luck. He was such a sweet kid, and part of me worried that maybe this job would be too dark for him. I’d seen so many kindhearted men and women become disillusioned, depressed, or mean-spirited as a result of working so closely with criminals. You had to have some degree of cynicism to work this kind of job. Otherwise, it would chew you up and spit you out. I sincerely hoped that wouldn’t happen to any of my fellow agents.

  29

  Charlie

  I watched as Junior left on the small plane that would take him to the island of Symi. The only ways there were by sea or air, and as a boat trip from Athens to Symi would take approximately eighteen hours, the only practical way to get there before the ferry departed was by plane. It would take him about an hour to get there, and once he landed, he’d have a little over an hour before the ferry departed. This would give him enough time to meet with the team that would be assisting him and to hash out the finer details of the mission.

  Meanwhile, I needed to make my way to the Port
of Piraeus here in Athens, where Illias had claimed that Lucas had established his base of operations. I got back into the car I’d finally gotten around to renting while Junior was in the hospital, and I made my way out of the airport parking lot and toward the address I’d been given as a meet-up point before the start of the mission.

  The building they had sent me to was a tourist information center right along the coast that was located directly across the street from the docks. Waiting for me in the parking lot was a trio of people in business attire that to the casual observer would only appear to be a group of office workers on their lunch break. However, I could detect from their deliberately unguarded postures and the deceptively hard expressions on their faces that these were the officers I was meant to be meeting.

  It made sense that they were wearing plain clothes and not police uniforms, as doing so might raise the alarm and cause the suspects to flee before we got the chance to apprehend them. I parked my car a few spots away before climbing out and approaching them, pulling out my ID as I did.

  “Agent Hills with MBLIS,” I said, confident in my assessment of who they were but still ready to draw my gun on the slight chance that my hunch was wrong.

  “I’m Ciaus,” the tallest man said, stepping forward and producing his own form of identification. He turned and nodded first toward a short, muscular man with buzzed blond hair and then to a thin, severe-looking woman with striking black eyes. “And this is Nikolaus and Iris. We are special operative police officers here to assist you on your mission.” Up close, it was even more clear that these three were more than they appeared, as all three were quite muscular and in shape, including the thin woman, who was now looking at me with something like disdain.

  “Great, so according to the layout of the garage, there are two potential exits not including the windows,” I said, reciting the plan that Nelson had given me. “We’ll have two stationed at the back entrance while the other two go through the front. So long as we’re able to surprise them, hopefully, the forward team will be able to apprehend everyone inside, while the two in the back cover and grab anyone who manages to escape. We all agreed?”

  “That is correct,” Ciaus said, as the other two nodded in agreement. “As for who will take what role, we believe it would be best for Iris to accompany you at the front while we provide backup and cover. She’s the best marksman between the three of us, and she’s quick. She has the best chance of avoiding fire in close quarters as well as suppressing things quickly should the plan go awry.”

  “I’ve got no problems with that,” I answered. Truthfully, I wouldn’t have wanted to be one of the ones stationed out back anyway, and if what he said about Iris being the best shot was true, then I had nothing to complain about.

  “Okay, we’ll use these to communicate,” Ciaus said, producing two sets of small, short-range walkie talkies that could clip onto the collar of a shirt. “Once Nikolaus and I are in position by the back door, we will let you know so that you can enter. If there are any problems on your end, simply flip the switch and call for assistance. You don’t need to hold it down to transmit, so after switching them on once, you should have both hands free again.”

  “That’s nifty,” I said, examining the small gadget before clipping it onto my shirt.

  “Okay, let’s move then,” Nikolaus said, and the four of us began to walk swiftly in the direction of the garage. It felt a little strange carrying out a covert mission in broad daylight like this, but it couldn’t be helped. If we wanted to infiltrate the base at the same time that Junior and Castillo were infiltrating the ferries, we had to do it now.

  Iris and I stopped a few yards from the entrance of the garage by an antique store and pretended to look in the windows in order to give Ciaus and Nikolaus a chance to move around to the back. I glanced over at Iris, who was glaring into the window in a way that wasn’t at all inconspicuous. When she caught me looking, she turned her glare on me, the same disdainful look from before even more obvious now.

  “Do you have a problem?” I asked quietly. I knew I shouldn’t be trying to pick a fight at the beginning of a dangerous mission, but if there was some issue here, I wanted to clear it up before I entrusted this woman with my life. I didn’t want to die today because she was having a bad day and was too angry about something to focus on the mission.

  “Of course, I have a problem,” she said, looking at me as if I was stupid. “Innocent animals are being tortured and killed for some foolish man’s ambition. I want nothing more than to apprehend this scum and extradite him to America. There are enough problems in this country without rats like him.” The expression on her face darkened as she spoke.

  It relieved me to hear that it wasn’t me her ire was directed toward, but at the same time, I still worried her personal feelings on the case might cloud her judgment and cause her to slip up. Then again, at least she seemed motivated to catch Lucas and to be honest, I wasn’t really one to talk when it came to taking the job personally. Just yesterday, Harry had called me a drama queen for getting so worked up over my job, and as much as I hated to admit it, he was probably right.

  There was a small, staticky whisper by my ear then, as Ciaus let us know over the walkie talkies that he and Nikolaus were in position, and we could move in now. Suddenly, I could feel a tingle of nerves like butterflies in my stomach, but I quickly tempered it down. I was nervous, but I needed to keep calm if I wanted to succeed.

  I turned to look at Iris, who nodded silently in confirmation. We turned away from the antique store window and walked through the parking lot and up to the front door of the garage. Once there, we could hear voices coming from inside. I closed my eyes and tried to discern how many people there were, but the voices were too faint for me to make out.

  “There’s at least three, possibly more,” I said quietly to Iris, who nodded again before drawing her gun. Standard procedure in the United States would be to wait until there was an active and visible threat before drawing your gun, but this group had already proven that they were ready and willing to hurt us, so I followed her lead and drew mine as well.

  Once we were both ready, Iris knocked loudly and announced our presence in Greek as planned, demanding that they come out immediately. For a moment, all the voices inside fell totally silent, then suddenly there was a gunshot and the sound of shouting from inside.

  “Damn it!” I shouted, knowing that something had gone wrong. I reared back before swinging my leg forward, throwing my entire weight into the kick as I struck the door right above the doorknob. The wood around the locking mechanism splintered away as the door burst open. We rushed inside to complete chaos. With a glance around the room, I was able to count four suspects, although the back door was hanging open, so I couldn’t be sure that one or more hadn’t escaped. I spotted Ciaus at the far end of the garage, taking cover behind a car as two of the men fired at him. I was about to run to his aid when I heard Iris yell something from behind me, and I looked up just in time to see one of the other men aiming his gun at me. I threw myself to the left behind a crate and narrowly avoided being hit by a bullet.

  I could hear bullets bouncing off metal and tearing through wood as I hit the ground, and I hoped that the shots were coming from Iris and Ciaus and not from the smugglers. Over the commotion, I could hear loud crashes and the sound of a man yelling, then something that sounded like a cry of pain.

  I looked up from where I had taken cover, wondering how this plan had gone to hell so badly when I came face-to-face with a set of small golden eyes. It was only then that I realized that the crate I had taken cover behind had tipped over on its side and was open. Sitting inside was a black and yellow spotted cat that looked like a cross between a cheetah and a house cat and was about the size of a Labrador Retriever.

  Although I could still hear the sounds of gunshots and the occasional pained groan, I froze as the cat stared me down. It wasn’t that big, but I’d bet anything that its teeth were plenty big enough to slice through my ski
n, and I was sure I wouldn’t outrun it if I tried. As I was trying to decide the best move, the cat seemed to lose interest in me, crawling into a corner of the crate and curling into a ball there.

  I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and quickly peered over the edge of the crate. At the far end of the garage, Ciaus had two of the men on the ground, although he seemed to be struggling to restrain them. Just a few feet away from me, another man was grappling with Iris in an attempt to take her gun. I moved quickly, leaping over the crate and running toward the pair before striking the suspect over the head with the butt of my gun. He fell to the ground and Iris quickly handcuffed him.

  “Thank you,” she said, short of breath. “Go check on Ciaus. They shot him.”

  I headed his way, but as I did, I heard a low, rattling rumble coming from behind me. The sound sent shivers down my spine as if some primal, instinctual part of my brain recognized the sound and the danger it denoted. I turned slowly, and as I did, I realized what all the crashing noises from before had been. Every crate and cage in the room had been opened or overturned and broken apart, and all around me were birds, cats, and even a few lizards of various sizes and colors. The moment felt surreal as I tried to process what I was seeing.

  I heard the sound again, louder this time and culminating in a scratchy yowl. I turned fully toward the sound and froze again as I came face-to-face with a large, fluffy wildcat. The white and black spotted pattern on its fur was exactly the same as the fur of the cubs we’d rescued from the ferry, except this cat was very clearly not a baby. On the contrary, its wide, sharply clawed paws, the three-inch-long teeth that protruded from its slightly open mouth, and the fact that its head came up to the level of my chest made me think we’d just stumbled upon the mother cat. My breath caught in my throat as I looked at the rippling muscles clearly visible beneath its white fur. I could hear a low, rumbling growl coming from its throat, and I felt goosebumps erupt all over my skin in response. I swallowed nervously, unsure what to do now that I found myself face-to-face with a mother leopard missing its babies.